Aurora borealis photo, over Fireweed Mountain, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska
Hey Folks,
It’s true. This post is the key to your success. This article is THE factor that will drive you to become the most popular, most retweeted, most faved, liked, mentioned and copied Photographer of All Time In The World Ever (and we all know how well those retweets and likes will pay your mortgage).
We’ll start here
1) Filters. Yes, you need them, you need more than you have, and they need to be newer.
2) The killer all in one 10-600mm f9.1 zoom is the lens in every pro’s bag that they don’t want you to know about.
3) Your photos don’t suck. They’re your art. The fact that you missed focus on all of them, the subject’s feet are cutoff and they’re 4 stops over-exposed is of no consequence. This is your vision.
4) Photoshop manipulation is no different to the traditional dark room tweaking. That’s why we see all those wonderful Ansel Adams photos of unicorns and goblins.
5) Yes, you’re a creative genius because you set your tripod down in the right tripod holes at The Wave but you so cleverly shot with a 15mm lens instead of oh-so-cliche-and-boring 16mm lens.
6) Photography isn’t about equipment, it’s about your eye and your creative vision. That $20 000 worth of gear you carry on your $25 000 annual travels has nothing to do with your creative vision.
7) Always title your blog posts with a number of reasons/myths/secrets whatever. It lends infinite credibility to your unsupported opinion commentary.
8) Stand up for what you believe is right. When you observe nature photographers breaking the law, behaving completely unethically, rudely, etc, claim your righteous moral-highground, and loudly denounce this on your blog. But don’t ever say who these people actually are/were.
9) Less is not more. Less is less. You need more. More pixels, more shutter speed, more focal length, more filters, more gizmos, more RAM, more fans, more followers, more likes, more retweets, more frequent traveler miles, more saturation, more blog posts, more composition, more art, more photos, etc. Whatever it is, get more.
10) The rules of composition must be adhered to at all times.
11) There are no rules of composition.
12) On social media, you can talk all the smack you want about someone like Peter Lik; i.e., someone who’s never actually going to see or respond to your commentary. But don’t ever talk smack about someone who actually might respond. The makes you an a**hole, picking fights with people.
13) Photography without social media is like masturbation.
14) There’s nothing wrong with masturbation, it’s perfectly healthy.
15) Photographing captive animals is just like photographing real, proper, wild ones.
16) Just like any great journalist, the more embellishment you can add to the story of the ordeal it took for you to take this photo, the more attention you’ll receive. And attention will pay your mortgage.
17) Photographers don’t ever “take” photographs. They “make” them. Because we’re oh so f**kin’ cool.
Cheers
Staff Writer, Skolai Images Social Media Team Leader.
Really funny Carl – killer title!
🙂 Thanks Ron!
Wise and well inspired sir.
Thank you so much Mister Click My Linky (I’m guessing “Don’t” is your middle name?). 🙂
Absolutely True. I feel more successful already!
Haha! Okay, only worth two Ha’s. Nobody really cares anymore about art, thus art is pilloried. Well, some still care about the art of it. I need more alright, more opportunities to go out and shoot nature. I love the fact that the world is big and social media, “bro-togs”, and “research” concentrates most other photographers in places that are easy to avoid. I just need more time is all.
Carl, this post made me laugh and helped me get a better sense of where you were coming from in a certain conversation. Remember that many of us look at all of this much as you do, perhaps not exactly the same, but we’re on the same side as far as being proponents of quality over volume and loudness. I agree that the “Top 15 ______” format for blog and other social posts is not only completely worn out, overused on Facebook and elsewhere, but worst of all is a formulaic approach that many self-proclaimed marketing gurus and pundits recommend ad nauseum. Nonetheless, I still feel there are some Top 10 posts that are worthwhile in their substance, if not in form. Sometimes this format is also a prompt and crutch for those who need such things to get them rolling on writing. I like how you’re making a broader commentary here also about the schlock out there. As an aside, FYI, Peter Lik does monitor social media very closely. I do know this from first hand experience in being linked to and contacted by his team a number of times, all of whom have been much more amicable than he comes across. However, they also wanted me to sell my soul and go with them, which I could have done long ago if I was inclined that way. There are many things I could do to make a lot more money than representing my father, at least so far. I’ve had lots of chances to sell out, but I persist because I feel the work he did was important and helpful as a model. It is a labor of love and a completely thankless job most of the time, as I get very little respect and condescended to as merely a marketer. This is one reason why I debated with you in the first place, and one of many reasons, besides the main ones of joy and love, why I also started developing my own photography beyond just being a fun sideline. As Kermit the Frog said, “It aint easy being green.”
…there goes my career, the word(s) is out!
Vielen Dank! Wollt ich nur sagen.